The Maltese are the fattest in Europe. We are the shortest too. If complaints can be gauged we would have probably ended up as being the grumpiest of the lot as well. But that is another story.
European Commission Statistics have clearly indicated that the Maltese people are the heavyweights of Europe.
Our average weight falls outside the standards of what is considered as being a healthy weight – a Body Mass Index of between 18.5 and 25. Malta’s average BMI is 26.6, way above second placed Greece with 25.9 and Finland at 25.8.
Anyone below the 18.5 mark is considered to be underweight; anyone over the 25 mark is overweight. Those above 30 are considered to be obese.
The BMI is a statistical measure of the weight of a person scaled according to height. No doubt, the fact that we are the shortest people in Europe has helped us to lift the trophy when it comes to our weight; or should it be the other way round?
That most Europeans are close to the maximum mark of 25 should be of little consolation to us. Italy, the slimmest of all European nations, has an average of 24.3, and only France, Austria, Poland and the Netherlands have an average that is below the 25 mark.
Still, this should not make us feel better about ourselves.
Being overweight means that we eat too much (especially junk food) and that we lead a sedentary life. Perhaps we already knew that, but now we know it officially.
The lives we lead allow us little time to prepare healthy food – and of course we find it easy to grab a juicy hamburger for lunch rather than chop lettuce and tomatoes for a salad. We also find it convenient to fill our freezers with ready-cooked food which we can dump in the microwave and eat a few minutes later, rather than cook a healthy meal after office hours.
That more than half of us believe that healthy food is bland is also a clear indication that we do not eat well. We prefer rich sauces and meats, and eat heavily too even if we know we will go to bed 30 minutes later.
The traffic problems we have in Malta are also a result of the fact that we want to walk the least possible, and therefore take the car from point A to point B, even if the distance between them is a few hundred metres. Added to this, we like to park our car as close as possible to our destination, and this makes us double park or park on yellow lines. We prefer to risk being fined – and then complain that wardens take their job too seriously – instead of trying to find a legal parking space. Just to avoid walking as much as possible.
In a nutshell, we are a people who hate doing exercise. The EC figures show that only 10 per cent of the population say that they perform a lot of physical activity, but this boils down to an average of just half an hour a day.
So the next time you are driving your car and see a jogger sweating his or her way along the road think that he or she is only one out of 10 of us. Too little indeed.
It does not take much to start. We are blessed with a mild climate that makes a good, long walk in winter pleasant too. For those with more vigour, jogging would perhaps be a better way – and one can easily start with five minutes of light running and build the stamina over the following weeks and months.
We need to improve our lifestyle. We need to improve our health.